The Walking Dead

(hopefully vague spoilers ahead for vols 3+)

Volume 2 of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead does enough of what the previous volume did. It is establishing new characters while getting rid of others. Right off the bat we are introduced to Tyreese and his group and the viewer is given another strong male lead, one which no doubt comes to blows with the previously established one. The old group and new teammates venture forth into a small gated community to find refuge. But when the shit enevitably hits the fan Donna is lost to the zombies and the group escapes only to find a farming family hiding out from the horde. Shortly after that they go their separate ways and Rick leads his group to a prison stating "We're home".

The Walking Dead takes a few things to some extremes. First, it is highly detailed in its depiction of gore and death (and beware in future volumes it doesn't lighten up, specifically several brutal torturous scenes in vol 6) This is not uncommon for the zombie genre of course. But what is a little uncommon is for a major character to reunite with his loved ones after a near apocolypse. This is one extreme in a more heartwarming direction, while in Volume 2 there are some jumps towards the other side. Again, this happens often in The Walking Dead. As soon as something good happens, chances are something equally terrible is right around the corner.

In The Walking Dead the zombies serve a different role than most zombie films. In the first volume they are established as the enemy, as in most zombie related media. But in the second volume, and moreso in later ones, the zombie is mostly a tool to help establish other characters. The zombies brought all these people together, the situations make the characters act in certain ways, and make other people act in ways that they wouldn't have thought they could act before. The zombies also serve to give the reader even more tangible antagonists in future volumes. The zombies are more of a natural disaster or a force of nature that cannot be truly defeated.

Lastly, being in a graphic novel format, we are given a different experience from books or film. Some may have noticed that the art style changes between volume 1 and 2. The artist of the first volume used a more stylized design for the characters and events. Things that are drawn more cartoony offer a detachment for the reader from the events depicted. We are less likely to relate to a caricature of a human than a photo-realistic image (not to say that these two volumes were either extremes). With comics people can be depicted however the aritist intends, while films give us set people portraying them and books leave it up to the reader.